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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

BOOK SUMMARY 318 Visioning

BOOK SUMMARY 318

Visioning

·Summary written by: Sara Saddington

“What most of us need is to genuinely feel optimistic,
despite the passage of time. We need a way to stay connected to a broader
vision of our lives, against which we can make sense of the challenges and
obstacles we encounter during our lives.”

- Visioning, page 11

Visioning: Creating the Life of Your Dreams by Glenn A. Williams provides an
inspiring introduction to the process of envisioning a successful life. Part
instructional manual, part gorgeous coffee table book, the process of
reading Visioning is both immersive and inspiring. The
beautiful photographs throughout the book invoke serenity and introspection,
and are balanced nicely with actionable advice for imagining a successful life.
Williams walks us through the steps required to envision what our life will
look like when we consider the questions: What do you really want for
your life? Why is that a meaningful pursuit? What are you dreaming about, but
not doing?

The Golden Egg

Create Your Vision

"Our vision is an integral part of making sense of
the world we live in and then acting within that framework to achieve our goals
and objectives."- Visioning, page 9

Visioning is the process of creating a detailed picture
of what a successful life looks like in the future. It is a deeply personal
expression of our desires for a meaningful live, and will look vastly different
for each person who undertakes the exercise.

The process is deceptively simple: pick a specific date
in the future (could be a landmark birthday, New Year’s day, or any other
meaningful day), and imagine your life on that day. Williams recommends
imagining a day 5 to 10 years from now—it’s far enough in the future to allow
for expansive thinking, but not too far away to feel unattainable. Create a
clear, specific vision of your life on that date, being sure to include visions
for your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs.

Your job at this stage is to focus on the what and why of
your vision, and to avoid the impulse to get bogged down in the how.
Don’t worry about the logistics of achieving your goals—the methods will become
clear as a result of figuring out what you want to achieve, and why it is
important to you.

Creating a clear vision is a four step process, outlined
below

1. Discovering: stimulating and inspiring yourself
through connecting with ideas, images and impressions that potentially express
elements of your vision.

3. Developing: synthesizing, organizing and refining the
contents of your vision into a presentation format that suits your intended
purpose (e.g. a poster, computer-based presentation, a typed or hand-written
document).

4. Delivering: sharing your vision with another person
(or people) is a pivotal stage that completes the first iteration of the
creative, cyclical process. At this stage, you may think that you have not
actually done anything about making your vision a reality. However, when
someone else reads your vision back to you, or witnesses you speaking your
vision aloud, you are likely to see yourself starting to think and feel
differently about your vision.

Gem #1

Make your Vision Specific

"Imagine that you are going to hand me a script for
a movie. The more detail you can provide me, the clearer I shall be able to see
your vision, through your eyes. It is not about whether you really end up
living in that suburb, on that street or in that house, for example. However,
that kind of level of detail would enable me to go away and make a movie –
figuratively speaking – with you as the star of the show. Imagine me playing
that movie back to you and your response simply being “yes, that is perfectly
what I imagined my ideal future would look like in my vision."- Visioning,
page 43

Williams suggests articulating your vision in the present
tense. As opposed to saying “by then, I will probably be running a successful
business,” practice saying “I have a successful business,” and imagine what
that feels like (not what it will feel like).
It may seem like a subtle, or semantic shift, but the effects are profound. As
you work through your vision, imagine it in vivid detail, like a film about
your life that just happens to take place in the future.

This shift in thinking will allow you to immerse yourself
in your vision, and create the right image. By using the present tense, you can
shift away from viewing your vision as a hypothetical—and receive the
psychological benefit of envisioning your success as though it has already
happened. Instead of focussing on process (which can lead to thinking about
challenges and roadblocks before you really get started), your focus on what
success will feel like, and will be more likely to chase after this feeling in
the years to come.

Gem #2

Be Kind to Yourself—Visioning is hard work

"There is ample evidence that we need to spread out,
wander, explore and even brainstorm before these kinds of answers come to us.
We need to open our mind and senses to images, impressions, sensations,
associations and what they stimulate before we begin the process of
sense-making. This non-linear nature of the creative process has also been
shown to be effective for people in endeavours as diverse as mathematical code
breakers, inventors, entrepreneurs and artists."- Visioning, page 27

The work of creating a personal vision is difficult,
heady stuff. Williams strongly suggests that you carve out dedicated time and
space to complete this exercise. If you’re trying to squeeze it in between
emails, stressed about picking up your kids on time, or worried about an
upcoming deadline, you will likely struggle to articulate a clear, meaningful
vision.

As the quote above indicates, to do deep, creative work,
we need space to daydream and to wander. Many of Williams’ clients take a
weekend away to complete this task. If you can’t spare a whole weekend, think
about ways you can get out of your usual environment. It could be a long walk
in a local park, a meandering drive around the countryside with no particular
destination in mind, or a long extravagant lunch by yourself at a new
restaurant. You want to focus on new opportunities—so get away from your usual
environment.

Williams also notes that it’s important to take care of
yourself throughout the process. It’s difficult work, so treat yourself
kindly—get a massage, ensure that you’re hydrated, break up your thinking with
exercise, or treat yourself to whatever form of self care you find most
comforting. You will be imagining a new, exciting future—difficult to do if
you’re hungover or chowing down a burger.

Though Williams created this process with executives who
are already quite successful in mind, the process outlined in this book will be
beneficial to people at every level of success. I didn’t know it at the time,
but 5 years ago, I undertook a similar process. I had applied to go back to
school (again), and spent many afternoons (before my shift at the bar) really
digging into a vision for my future. I took long walks and let myself imagine
what a successful career would look and feel like. Though I didn’t write it
down, that vision sustained me through the grind of school, and a series of
less than ideal jobs. Five years later, I’ve achieved my vision, and it feels
better than I imagined. I will be returning to this process again and again, to
help me stay connected to my goals, and to imagine what success feels like.

Visioning is
a powerful process that will help you connect to what matters most. It is
deeply personal, and will look different for everyone who undertakes it.